The Descent of the Messiah — Page 196
THE DESCENT OF THE MESSIAH 25 [continued] ing me down in its estimation and accuse me of lying. This was similar to how, after the conditional period of Atham's respite ended, foolish Muslims and Christians raised a tremendous cry and thought they had brought me down, but then God killed Lekhram and lifted me up after I had fallen. (2) Second, God promises in this prophecy that He shall manifest the truth of this mes- senger with powerful assaults. These are the powerful assaults by which clear signs are being manifested and opponents are dying themselves. The enemies of the faith tried their utmost to extinguish this light, but this Com- munity, which had numbered barely a handful, is now seventy thousand strong, and the wrathful hand of God has done away with three of the five leaders of the op- ponents: Ismail Maulawī of Aligarh-who had said that whoever is false among the two of us shall die first-was the first to die. Ghulam Dastagir Qasuri, who wished for the death of the liar by calling me one in his book Fatah Rahmānī. After the publication of this prayer duel, he did not remain alive and died within a few days (see Fath Rahmānī, pages 26 to 27). Mohy-ud-Deen of Lakhuke also published a revelation with similar intent and said that Mirza Sahib is [like the] Pharaoh. How- ever, as has been published in Al-Hakam July 24, 1901, page 5, column 2, he died in keeping with my prophecy. Similarly, Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi went blind after his announcement. The opponent Shahideen Ludhianwi went insane. Muhammad Hassan Bhin was caught by the curse of his own mouth and died after writing against me, on [the margin of the book] Ijāzul-Masih and in- |voking [the curse[ : لَعْنَةُ اللَّهِ عَلَى الْكَذِبِين ]May the curse of Allah be upon the liars]. The same happened to the three Maulawis of Ludhiana, namely, Abdullah, Abdul Aziz, and Muhammad. All three died after publishing slander- ous claims against me. These are the powerful assaults of God through which truth is becoming manifest. Nor is 196